Moot Court Executive Board + National Team
Board Members
Chairman- Ashley Melerine Liuzza
Ashley Liuzza is a third-year law student and serves as the 2011-2012 Loyola Moot Court Chairman of the Board. Before entering law school, Ms. Liuzza graduated from Millsaps College with a Bachelor of Arts. As a first year law student, she finished in the top four in Loyola’s Intramural Moot Court Competition. In her second year, Ms. Liuzza competed in Chicago, Illinois as an Oralist for the Information Technology and Privacy Law Moot Court Team. Ms. Liuzza also served as Writing Lab assistant and Moot Court Teaching Assistant.
In addition to her involvement in Loyola’s Moot Court Program, Ms. Liuzza is a member of the Loyola Law Review, which selected both her Case note and Comment for publication. As a law student, Ms Liuzza interned for the Honorable Justice Bernette Johnson at the Louisiana Supreme Court and clerked for the law firms of Taggart Morton, LLC and Simon, Peragine, Smith, and Redfearn, L.L.P. She also served as a research assistant to Professor Bobby Harges. Following graduation in May 2012, Ms. Liuzza plans to sit for the Louisiana State Bar Exam.
Alumni Chair- Phil Lorio
Phil Lorio is currently serving as the 2011-2012 Moot Court Alumni Chair. Mr. Lorio is a native of New Orleans and attended Isidore Newman School. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish. At Vanderbilt, he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity for which he served as Social Chair from Spring 2007 until Fall 2008. Prior to entering law school, Mr. Lorio interned for Senator Mary Landrieu in both her Washington, D.C. and New Orleans offices. In 2008, Mr. Lorio interned at the Law Offices of Howard and Reed after studying abroad in Madrid, Spain.
Mr. Lorio competed with the 2012 PACE Environmental Law Team in White Plains, New York as an Oralist and Brief Writer. As a law student, Mr. Lorio interned for the Honorable Allison H. Penzato in the 22nd Judicial District Court of Louisiana and clerked at the law firms of Leake and Andersson, L.L.P. and Hailey, McNamara, Hall, Larmann and Papale, L.L.P. Mr. Lorio also served as a junior teaching assistant for Loyola’s study abroad program in Vienna, Austria. Most recently, he has gained membership to the St. Thomas Moore Inn of Court. Mr. Lorio will graduate in May 2012 and plans to sit for the Louisiana Bar in July.
Selection Chair- Rachel Lisotta
Rachel Lisotta is a third-year law student at Loyola and serves as the 2011-2012 Moot Court Selection Chair. At Loyola, she is studying common law and is seeking a certificate in International Law. Ms. Lisotta is also a member of the Loyola Maritime Law Journal. As a law student, she clerked with the locally headquartered Entergy Corporation in the corporate litigation department and with the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office. Ms. Lisotta is a graduate of Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and English. While at Vanderbilt, Rachel was the captain of the Vanderbilt Cheerleading squad, a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority, and an intern with the United States Senate. Ms. Lisotta is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and plans to sit for the District of Columbia Bar Exam after graduation.
Fall/Spring Coach- Alicia Moon
Alicia Moon is a native of Tampa, Florida. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. During and after college, she served as a Guardian ad Litem, representing abused and neglected children. In the Summer of 2010, Ms. Moon served as judicial intern for Judge Rex Barbas of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Juvenile Dependency in Tampa, Florida. In her second year, she was an Oralist for the PACE Environmental Moot Court Team, competing at the national level in White Plains New York, where she earned “Best Oralist” in her second round. During the summer following her second year, Alicia clerked for Groelle & Salmon, P.A., an insurance defense firm located in Tampa, Florida. In her final year at Loyola, Ms. Moon volunteers as a student ambassador and is a Fall/Spring coach on the Loyola Moot Court Board. She coaches the Information Technology and Privacy team in the Fall, and the Duberstein Bankruptcy team in the Spring.
Fall/Spring Coach-Elizabeth Liuzza
Ms. Liuzza is the Fall/ Spring Coach for the Criminal Procedure Team, which will compete this November in San Diego, California, and the PACE Environmental Law Team set to compete in White Plains, New York this February. Ms. Liuzza was an oralist on the 2011 PACE Environmental Law Team. She also served on the 8th Annual Loyola Moot Court Golf Tournament Committee and the 24th Annual Moot Court Awards Banquet Planning Committee. Elizabeth is a member of the Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law. Ms. Liuzza has served a clerk for the Honorable Mary C. Devereux of the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court and the Honorable Nancy Amato Konrad of Jefferson Parish Juvenile Court. Elizabeth graduated from Louisiana State University with a B.A. in Mass Communication with a concentration in Public Relations. Elizabeth will graduate in May 2012 and plans to sit for the Louisiana State Bar Exam in July 2012.
Fall/Spring Coach- Victor Jones
Mr. Jones is currently a third-year law student at Loyola and a native of Pascagoula, MS. He is the Fall/Spring Coach of the Entertainment Law and First Amendment Moot Court Teams. In 2007, Mr. Jones received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Xavier University of Louisiana, where he served as Vice President of the Student Government Association. In 2008, he received a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard University. After entering Loyola Law, Mr. Jones was a semifinalist in Loyola’s Intramural Moot Court Competition, and an oralist for the Civil Rights & Liberties Moot Court Team. During the summer of 2010, he served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Charles R. Jones of the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal. This past summer, he was a summer law clerk at Shorty, Dooley, & Hall, LLC, a judicial extern for the Honorable Ivan L.R. Lemelle of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and a summer associate at Adams and Reese, LLP. He is a proud member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Upon graduating in May 2012, Victor will sit for the Louisiana Bar Exam.
National Team
National Team Coach- Sam Winston
Sam Winston currently serves on the Executive Moot Court Board as this year’s National Team Coach. In 2010-2011, he participated in the First Amendment National Moot Court Competition at Vanderbilt Law School as a brief writer and oralist. He is also a member of the Loyola Law Review, which plans to publish his comment on the U.S. Supreme Court’s student speech jurisprudence in the Spring/Summer of 2012.
Mr. Winston’s practical legal experience includes clerking for the Honorable Judge Edwin A. Lombard at the Louisiana Fourth Circuit State Court of Appeals as well as for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern of Louisiana. This past summer he clerked for Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere, & Denegre L.L.P. and Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr & Smith.
Mr. Winston received his undergraduate degree in journalism from Boston University and his master’s degree in law and business from the Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany. He is a native of New Orleans, where he lives with his wife and their dog, JoJo.
National Team Oralist- Jeffrey Briscoe
Jeff Briscoe is a native of New Orleans and plans on living and practicing in the area after law school. He earned his undergraduate degree in print journalism at the University of Kansas where he wrote and edited for one of the country’s most highly regarded college newspapers. At Loyola, Mr. Briscoe competed on the Criminal Procedure Moot Court Team which placed first at the University of San Diego National Criminal Procedure tournament. Additionally, he was selected to the program’s National Moot Court Team for the 2011-2012 school year. Mr. Briscoe’s experience outside law school has included summer clerkships for Pivach, Pivach, Huft, Thriffiley & Nolan, The Javier Law Firm, and the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s office.
National Team Oralist- Peter Connick
Peter Connick is a third year law student at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. Prior to law school, he attended Tulane University where he received a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Business Administration. While attending Tulane University Mr. Connick was also a member of the Tulane University Baseball Team. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he was an Investigator at the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office. While attending law school, he competed on the 2010 Loyola Civil Rights and Liberties Moot Court team and is presently an Oralist on the 2011-2012 Loyola Moot Court National Team. In the summer of 2011, he clerked at Chaffe McCall, L.L.P. and Leake & Andersson L.L.P.
National Team Brief Writer- Meera Unnithan Sossamon
Meera Sossamon is currently a third-year law student in the Civil Law day program and serves as the National Team Brief Writer. A New Orleans native, she completed her undergraduate degree at Newcomb College of Tulane University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Bachelor of Arts in English. During her first year at Loyola, Ms. Sossamon was the recipient of the Dean’s Award for attaining the highest average in the first-year class and the J. Skelly Wright Award for Exceptional Oral Ability after placing first in the 2010 Loyola Moot Court Intramural Competition. As a law student, Ms. Sossamon has clerked for the New Orleans firms of Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer, Liskow & Lewis, and Irwin Fritchie Urquhart & Moore.
During her second year of law school, she served as a Teaching Assistant for the first-year classes in Legal Research & Writing and Moot Court, and was also a Research Assistant to Professor Blaine LeCesne. Ms. Sossamon also competed in the John Marshall Information Technology and Privacy Competition as a Brief Writer and Oralist during the fall of her second year. She is a member of the Loyola Law Review and her Comment on social networks and subpoenas in civil litigation was selected for publication in a forthcoming issue of the Law Review. Following graduation in May 2012, Meera plans to sit for the Louisiana Bar in July 2012.